Girl Talk
by BBBKA
Summary: JoAnne DeSoto and Dixie McCall decide that the time has come to have a little chat with Johnny's newest flame. Not my first fanfic, but my first Emergency fanfic.


Not all hospital visits were bad, JoAnne DeSoto reflected, climbing out of her car and smoothing her skirt. Today's visit, for example, was all about visiting a friend who had just given birth the previous day. As JoAnne reached back into the car for the brightly wrapped gift, her arms were practically tingling with eagerness to hold that new baby.

Most of JoAnne's hospital visits weren't this happy; they usually involved her fireman husband or one of his co-workers. Thankfully, Roy DeSoto's injuries had only landed him here for an overnight stay a few times, but his young partner was a bit of a daredevil who couldn't seem to keep himself injury-free for more than a few months at a stretch.

She shook her head and reached back into the car one last time for the container of peanut butter cookies. Over the years, she had gotten to know the Emergency Room staff here at Rampart General Hospital almost as well as she knew her husband's friends at Station 51, and she also knew that the hard-working doctors and nurses could always use a treat. She knew they would appreciate her stopping by with some homemade cookies before going up to her friend's room.

"JoAnne! Roy said you might stop by today," Head Nurse Dixie McCall called out to her as she approached the ER.

"Really? He was supposed to keep it a secret so I could surprise you."

"I believe he also mentioned cookies."

JoAnne smiled and handed over the container. Dixie was a warm, friendly woman who had intimidated the hell out of her when they first met, a woman with a direct way of speaking that cut right to the important business at hand. And to the overworked ER staff, homemade cookies were very important business indeed .

"So Roy has been here already this morning?"

"They're in Treatment Room two," Dixie told her. "Johnny gashed his hand and needed a few stitches."

"'A few'?" JoAnne asked, more sharply than she intended. She couldn't help it; Roy's young partner annoyed her to no end with his steady stream of injuries, but he still brought out her maternal instincts.

Before Dixie could answer her, the door to the room in question burst open, and a pretty blonde nurse stalked out, muttering to herself. "Needs a minute to talk to _Roy_," she grumbled. Her lip curled into a sneer as she spoke the name, as though it tasted bad. "Talk to _Roy_, then. Talk to him all day and all night for all I care. Why don't you go out on a date with _Roy_, you big –oh!" She clapped a hand over her mouth at the site of Dixie and JoAnne.

"I didn't hear a thing," JoAnne assured her.

"JoAnne, this is Nurse Brewer," Dixie said smoothly. "Lisa, this is JoAnne DeSoto. _Roy's_ wife."

The nurse flushed. "I am so sorry, Mrs. DeSoto –"

"Lisa, I think it's time for your break," Dixie interrupted. "Why don't you and JoAnne go have a cup of coffee, get to know each other? I think you girls have some things to discuss."

"But—"

"But I –"

And with that, both women found themselves in the staff lounge, staring at each other.

"How does she _do_ that?" Lisa wondered.

"I still have no idea." JoAnne set her purse and gift on the table and grabbed two coffee cups. "Frankly, Dixie scares me a little. I adore her, but she scares me."

The nurse chuckled, and then began to squirm as the other woman handed her a cup. "I am so sorry, Mrs. DeSoto," she finally got out. "I meant no disrespect to you or to your husband . . . that was very unprofessional, but—"

"But you're seeing Johnny, and the partner thing is just downright creepy sometimes?" JoAnne finished for her. "Believe me, I know exactly what you mean. And please, call me JoAnne."

"John and I have only been dating for a few months, but I'm just about fed up with it! Every time I turn around, it's 'Roy this' or 'Roy that', or 'Roy says such and such'. I just blew up back there because John_, my boyfriend_, is hurt, and he told me he needed to talk to Roy. JoAnne, I should be the one comforting him, not Roy."

"And then you feel silly being jealous of him?"

"Exactly! You feel the same way?"

"Not as much anymore, but I used to." JoAnne patted her hand. "It's something you just have to adjust to when you're involved with a fireman – or a policeman, for that matter. They have to depend on each other, trust each other. Think about it; they literally hold each other's lives in their hands. That gives a level of closeness that you and I can never fully understand. It's not that Johnny and Roy are closer to each other than they are to us; it's just a different kind of closeness. "

"But I should be the first person he thinks of when he's hurt or upset!" Lisa protested.

"Not me," JoAnne said firmly. "When my husband is hanging off the side of a building, with just Johnny and a bit of rope keeping him alive, I want him to be thinking about Johnny, not me. And no offense to you, but I wouldn't want Johnny to be thinking about you right then. I want him thinking of Roy."

Lisa was silent.

"So," JoAnne began, after a long moment. She cleared her throat. "So, are you and Johnny . . . are things pretty serious between you two?"

"Oh, I hope so!" Lisa blurted, and then blushed. "I mean, we, I, he . . . well, he's been talking about wanting to introduce me to _you_, actually. I think that means something, doesn't it?"

"He doesn't have any family, so Roy and the kids and I have sort of adopted him. Bringing a girl home to meet us would be like taking her home to meet his parents."

"How many girls has he brought home to meet you?"

"You'd be the first."

The young nurse pondered that while JoAnne refilled their coffee cups. "Is this where you warn me not to hurt him?" She finally asked.

"Of course not! He's a grown man." JoAnne laughed. "We tend to treat him like a child sometimes, but he's responsible for his own love life."

Dixie joined them just then, pouring her own steaming cup of coffee and leaning against the wall to study to two women. "I'm the one who's going to warn you," she said. "Sorry to butt in, but I couldn't help overhearing. And I'm not worried about you hurting Johnny – I'm worried about you, Lisa. JoAnne, have you talked to her about what it's like being married to a fireman?"

"I didn't want to scare her."

Lisa snorted. "I don't scare easily, Ladies."

"I did, at first," JoAnne told her. "I always worried that Roy was going to burn up or crash the fire truck, or fall off a cliff. Every time he left to go to work, I was terrified that he wasn't going to come home. I almost didn't marry him because he was a fireman."

"But you married him anyway."

JoAnne smiled softly. "I loved him too much to let him go," she said. "But even then, it almost destroyed our marriage. I became clingy and weepy and controlling, especially when I found out we were going to have our first baby. I was so afraid of being widowed that I made myself and Roy utterly miserable."

Dixie patted her shoulder. "Tell her the rest," she urged.

"I used to listen to a scanner while he was at work, even though he told me not to. This was back before he became a paramedic, and one day they were driving to a grassfire out on a twisting, dangerous road. I heard them talking on the radio about poor visibility and dangerous conditions, and then – nothing. Just like _that_." JoAnne snapped her fingers. "I just _knew_ the truck had crashed or gone over an embankment or something. I called my mother and Roy's mother and my sister and my best friend and . . . oh, everyone I could think of.

"Turns out there was a loose wire in the truck radio, which I would have known if I had just kept listening. But I panicked and turned off my radio. Roy, meanwhile, went on with his shift, perfectly fine and with no idea that I was in a panic. By the time he finished work and came strolling on home, he ended up walking into a room full of weeping women. He was furious."

"Roy, furious? That's hard to imagine," Lisa said. "He always seems so . . . mellow."

"He doesn't get angry often, but when he does, watch out! We sat down and had a real heart-to-heart that day, and he pretty much gave me the choice: accept the fact that his job involves danger, or ask him to leave."

Lisa sighed. "I appreciate the advice, JoAnne, but it's going to be different for John and me. I'm not like you; I'm just not willing to take second place in any man's life. I won't come in behind his partner or his job. "

"Then don't marry a fireman," JoAnne murmured.

"There are plenty of other things John can do," Lisa said. "He can teach other firemen and paramedics, or . . . well, just about anything. If he loves me, he'd give it up if I asked him to."

"And if _you_ love _him_, you won't ever ask him to."

Lisa stood. "I think we're done here," she told them. "You and I are just from different generations, I guess. You're content to sit at home and be the dutiful little wife, but I'm just stronger than that. I demand more from a man. I'm sorry if that offends you, but I'd never be happy as a mousy little housewife."

She had her hand on the door handle when Dixie stopped her. "Did you go to nursing school for your RN or your MRS?" She asked.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me. Did you go to nursing school because you wanted to be a nurse, or because you wanted to meet a nice, rich doctor to marry?"

"I'll have you know that I have wanted to be a nurse since I was a very small girl," Lisa snapped. "How dare you—"

"And when you get married – to John or whoever - and you have children, what will you do if he wants you to quit work and stay home with the kids?"

"Ha! As if I would ever fall for anyone . . . that . . . selfish. . ." The nurse's voice trailed off as her gaze went to JoAnne, who was calmly sipping her coffee with a knowing smile on her face. "I – I have to get back to work," she stammered.

"Well?" Dixie asked, as soon as she was gone. "What do you think?"

"Don't ask me, I'm just a mousy little housewife."

Dixie chuckled.

"There may be hope for her," JoAnne said. "She's naïve, but she's pretty spunky. She just might be tough enough to make it is a fireman's wife."

"Ah, but she's not dating just any fireman. Is she good enough for our Johnny?"

JoAnne crossed her arms and tried to look stern, but ended up giggling instead. "Of course not!" She snickered. "No one's good enough for our Johnny!"

_Author's Note: When my husband joined our local volunteer fire department, I got "the talk" from the chief's wife. Over the years, as he climbed the ranks to the chief's position, I delivered the lecture myself a few times. I thought it might be fun to have JoAnne and Dixie have the chat with Johnny's newest love interest._

_This is my first Emergency! Story, so I'd love some feedback!_


End file.
